38% of students pass May/June Waec examination

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that out of the 1,593,442 candidates that sat for the just released May/June 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), 616,370 (38.68 per cent) obtained credit in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

The Head of the Nigeria National Office (HNO), Mr. Charles Eguridu, who disclosed this in Lagos yesterday, said the result indicated a slight improvement in candidates’ performance, as it recorded 31.28 per cent in May/June last year and 38.30 per cent in 2013
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Further breakdown of the results showed that 1,498,069 candidates, representing 94.01 per cent have their results fully released, while 95,373 candidates, representing 5.99 per cent have a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors mainly traceable to the candidates and schools in the course of registration or writing the examination.

“Such errors are being corrected by the council to enable the affected candidates get their results fully processed and released subsequently.”

Eguridu said 758,849 candidates, representing 47.62 per cent obtained six credits and above; 949,862 candidates, representing 59.61 per cent obtained five credits and above; while 1,114,988 candidates, representing 69.97 per cent obtained credits and above in four subjects.

He added that 1,295,915 candidates, representing 78.81 per cent obtained credit and above in three subjects; 1,376,743 candidates, representing 86.40 per cent obtained credit and above in two subjects; while the results of 118,101 candidates, representing 7.41 per cent are being withheld in connection with various cases of examination malpractice.

“The cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the Nigerian Examinations Committee (NEC) of the council in due course for consideration. The committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their schools.” He said candidates can check the details of their performance on the council’s results website, www.waecdirect.org from tuesday.

However, the HNO said the fate of government-sponsored candidates from some debtor states lies in the hands of their respective state governments, adding that after his recent announcement that 19 states were yet to pay, a few of them responded by paying their debts fully or partially, while a few others made promises indicating their willingness to pay as soon as they are able to do so. Others he said have not made any effort to address the matter.

After reviewing the matter, he said the council decided that the results of government-sponsored candidates of the 13 indebted states would only be released if such states endeavour to produce advance payment guarantees from reputable banks so that the council would be assured that the fees would be paid.

“This decision is in appreciation of the general prevailing economic challenges in the country, and in order not to jeopardise the educational careers of the candidates of the indebted states.”

Thisday